THE FOUNDER of the now-defunct cult of Christianity, known popularly as 'Armstrongism', was a sincere believer in Jesus Christ. He testified in his own words to experiencing Christ as Saviour.
The former newspaper-advertising designer, who died in 1986, wrote of his conversion thus: "In surrendering to God in complete repentance, I found unspeakable joy in accepting Jesus Christ as personal Saviour."
So what went wrong? His successors tell us that the young Armstrong, full of zeal, began to study the Bible for himself, and that as he did so he began to come to "conclusions different from traditional doctrines. Eventually he began to preach and to lead small congregations of believers."
Armstrong, by the 1930s, explains in his biography how he made certain crucial moves to extend his influence. Specifically, he launched a radio programme (The World Tomorrow) and a magazine The Plain Truth. Then in 1947 he added to his extension ministries a Bible School Ambassador College, in Pasadena, California, where he made his new base.
In the 1950s and 1960s growth was rapid, say his successors, but slowed in the 1970s because of, among other things, failed prophecies. For example, Christ did not return, as Armstrong had predicted. Also, because of a rift with his son, Garner Ted, who the followers expected to succeed him. Eventually, the son left the father to form an offshoot, and still cultic, branch of the church the Church of God International of which journalist Ian Boyne is its most visible local leader.
In 1986, when the father died, he left a church of approximately 150,000 members in 800 congregations, meeting in more than 100 countries, and collecting through tithes, double tithes, and triple tithes, approximately $200 million annually to fuel the organisation, maintain his media empire and keep open the doors of his Bible College.
What was his message? He preached that " salvation is by grace through faith in Jesus Christ," says his appointed successor. That is orthodox, Christian teaching. So where did he go wrong?
The analysts inside his church suggest two major ways in which Herbert W. Armstrong went wrong. One, he added to that core faith conviction a legalism that negated the faith emphasis concept. Two, he posited an interpretation of Scripture that was to prove embarrassing as repeated prophecies concerning the return of Christ failed to come to pass.
His legalism was such that Sabbath observance became a 'test' for being a true Christian, or a true church. His church observed, in addition to the weekly Sabbath, seven Old Testament sabbaths and feast days. Not to mention numerous prohibitions, relating to dress, hairstyle, diet, holidays, entertainment, professions, jobs, and so on.
GOD'S APOSTLE
His successors say Armstrong regarded himself as "God's Apostle", raised up in succession to the Apostle Paul, to restore truth in modern times, particularly as such affected the recognition of the "one, true church". Therefore, all who disobeyed his dictates experienced his wrath, and if on staff, were fired, and all such offenders in the fellowship were expelled.
In regard to failed prophecies, say his successors, he had proclaimed that the Great Tribulation would begin "in the 1930s, in the 1940s, in the 1950s, in the 1960s, in the 1970s, and in the 1980s the millennium was so important to Armstrong that it became the centre of the Gospel The Millennium was the good news".
After his death, therefore, when his appointed successor began to lead in the re-examination of all things believed and practised in the Worldwide Church of God that Herbert W. Armstrong had founded and dominated, and controlled, the task was monumental.
In 1986, shortly before Herbert Armstrong died, he appointed a successor Joseph Tkach (pronounced Ta-cotch), a long-serving and loyal minister, who had supervising responsibility for all the church's ministers. Armstrong in parting words had told Tkach to examine the teachings of the church, "and when the time comes, God will lead you."
Tkach took the words seriously, linking them with the scriptural injunction: "Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is" (Rom. 12: 2).
At first Tkach made what may be termed relatively minor changes, such as permitting members to go to doctors, to take prescribed medication, to celebrate birthdays, and to wear cosmetics. Also, the brakes were put on prophetic speculations and declarations. But by 1990, as serious evaluation continued, it became evident that serious theological surgery was required, even though the church was growing.
So, beginning in 1991 Tkach began announcing that the cross was not a pagan symbol, that being 'born again' is not a physical reference, that humans are not destined to become gods, that the 'lost tribes' of Israel are not the British people, and that the Holy Spirit is an equal member of the trinity.
FINANCIAL SUPPORT
From then, membership and financial support declined sharply. By 1994 the television programme was cancelled and the staff laid off. But the bombshell was to follow, when Tkach announced, in December 1994, that there was no scriptural obligation for Christians to observe the sabbath (Saturday) or keep the annual feasts.
In 1995, therefore, the church began to split and then splinter. The biggest split occurred when approximately 12, 000 members left to form the United Church of God. Thousands of other members simply stopped going to any church, and church income dropped by 50 per cent, leading to cessation of the television programme, and relinquishing of hundreds of staff. Not mention the anguish among bitterly divided families.
Amid the pain of change, the leaders reported the joy of change, as some members previously not converted or liberated, found Christ as Saviour and others, already converted, exulted in their freedom in Christ, apart from legalistic obligations.
At the height of tensions in themed 1990s, the senior Joseph Tkach, Herbert Armstrong's appointed successor, died. He had done a magnificent job in steering the congregations out of the shark-infested waters of heresy. His proud legacy was even more secured when he appointed his son to succeed him, for the son, Joseph Tkach, has steered the ship of faith into the evangelical port.
Herbert T. Armstrong began well, as an evangelical, but his delusions of grandeur led him to make extravagant claims concerning his importance, and secondly, his self-instruction in theology did not aid him in the process. Nearly 40 churches have emerged in the trail of his teaching errors, but one has survived to tell the plain truth.
- Billy Hall
